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CATFISH
February 18, 2004

USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service   |  1222 Woodward Street   |  Orlando, Florida 32803   |  407 / 648-6013


FLORIDA

  There were 35 catfish operations in Florida on January 1, 2004. Total water surface area was 710 acres, an increase of 50 acres from 2003. Most of the acreage was for foodsize fish (630 acres) and fingerlings (33 acres). Total sales in Florida in 2003 were $1,208,000. The majority of the sales were to processors.

UNITED STATES

  Catfish growers in the 13 selected States had sales of 425 million dollars during 2003, up 3 percent from the previous year. The top four States (Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, and Louisiana) accounted for 95 percent of the U. S. total sales. Nationwide sales of all foodsize fish increased 4 percent from 2002 to 397 million dollars. Fingerlings and fry sales totaled 21.2 million dollars, an increase of 22 percent from 2002. Sales of stockers totaled 6.21 million dollars in 2003, a 51 percent decrease from the previous year.

  By point of first sale, direct sales to processors accounted for 94 percent of the total sales of foodsize fish while 85 percent of the stocker sales were to other producers. Remaining sales were for recreational use, to live haulers, or for retail, government, or other uses.

  The water surface acres being used for catfish production as of January 1, 2004, totaled 178 thousand acres, down 5 percent from the 187 thousand acres used a year earlier. Of the total acres, 4.15 thousand are to be renovated during the period of January 1 to June 30, 2004. An additional 535 acres are under construction or expected to be constructed and in use by July 1, 2004. During the period of July 1 through December 31, 2003, the area taken out of production totaled 4.61 thousand acres. As of January 1, 2004, foodfish were produced on 148 thousand acres, fingerling producing acres totaled 23.1 thousand, and 3.70 thousand acres were being used for broodfish.

  Catfish producers had 1.10 million broodfish on hand January 1, 2004, down 16 percent from January 1, 2003. Large foodsize fish (over 3 pounds per fish) on hand totaled 10.4 million on January 1, 2004, down 7 percent from a year ago. The number of medium foodsize (1.50 pounds to 3 pounds per fish) decreased 18 percent to 105 million, while small foodsize fish (0.75 pound to 1.50 pounds per fish) numbers decreased 5 percent to 241 million. Large stockers (over 180 pounds to 750 pounds per 1000 fish) on hand January 1, 2004, at 286 million fish, were down 11 percent from the previous year. Small stocker (over 60 pounds to 180 pounds per 1000 fish) numbers increased 25 percent to 568 million. There were 727 million fingerlings on hand January 1, 2004, down 27 percent from January 1, 2003.

Catfish: Water Surface Acres Utilization of Acres Jan 1, 2003 & 2004, and Acres Taken Out of Production Jul 1-Dec 31, 2003, by State
State Water surface acres Utilization of acres, 2004 Taken
out of
pro-
duction in
2003
Reno- vated New
con-
struction
Used for
brood- fish
Jan 1
2003
Jan 1
2004
AL 25,500 25,400 340 65 420 590
AR 34,000 34,000 600 * 550 1,300
FL 660 710 * * 40 *
LA 9,900 8,800 450 * 120 460
MS 109,000 101,000 2,200 200 2,200 2,100
MO 1,100 1,370 110 * 35 *
Oth 1/ 6,740 6,510 445 270 330 155
Total 187,200 177,790 4,145 535 3,695 4,605
1/ Includes CA, KY, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX.
* Included in other states to avoid disclosure.


Catfish: Number of operations and annual sales
State Number of operations Annual sales
January 1
2003
January 1
2004
2002 2003
  Thousand dollars
AL 231 200 76,045 85,159
AR 155 161 56,380 59,047
FL 34 35 756 1,208
LA 57 48 15,812 14,505
MS 405 410 243,226 243,176
MO 31 21 1,070 1,954
Oth 1/ 248 242 18,124 19,876
Total 1,161 1,117 411,413 424,925
1/ Includes CA, KY, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX.
* Included in other states to avoid disclosure.

Catfish: Inventory and live weight of broodfish, January 1
State Total number of fish Live weight of fish
2003 2004 2003 2004
  Thousands
AL 380 80 1,280 440
AR 120 125 590 600
FL 3 15 21 80
LA 26 22 160 138
MS 700 750 3,300 3,600
MO 15 * 60 *
Oth 1/ 59 106 307 509
Total 1,303 1,098 5,718 5,367
1/ Includes CA, KY, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX.
* Included in other states to avoid disclosure.

Catfish: Inventory and live weight of all foodsizes, January 1
State Total number of fish Live weight of fish
2003 2004 2003 2004
  Thousands
AL 82,300 71,640 110,740 96,450
AR 74,830 73,440 105,750 97,600
LA 19,800 14,780 29,700 24,950
MS 204,250 181,800 265,400 251,000
MO * * * *
Oth 1/ 12,843 15,179 20,911 23,968
Total 394,023 356,839 532,501 493,968
1/ Includes CA, FL, KY, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX.

Catfish: Inventory and live weight of total
stockers, January 1 1/
State Total number of fish Live weight of fish
2003 2004 2003 2004
  Thousands
AL 142,100 258,100 22,500 38,100
AR 120,200 132,600 24,850 32,550
LA 32,410 21,340 4,900 4,510
MS 464,000 428,000 109,300 89,600
MO * * * *
Oth 2/ 16,516 13,507 3,219 3,178
Total 775,226 853,547 164,769 167,938
1/ Total stockers: Over 60 lbs to 750 lbs/ 1,000 fish.
2/ Includes CA, FL, GA, IL, KY, NC, SC, and TX.


Catfish: Inventory and live weight of fingerling, January 11/
State Total number of fish Total liveweight of fish
2003 2004 2003 2004
  Thousands
AL 50,800 52,800 1,720 1,890
AR 131,000 121,000 3,880 3,100
FL 3,300 1,120 26 12
LA 30,800 18,900 1,120 557
MS 753,000 508,000 26,200 17,800
MO 4,040 4,460 90 75
Oth 2/ 17,223 20,791 639 607
Total 990,163 727,071 33,675 24,041
1/ Fingerling: Over 2 lbs to 60 lbs/1,000 fish.
2/ Includes CA, GA, KS, KY, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX.
* Included in other states to avoid disclosure.


Catfish: Foodsize percent sold by outlet type, 2003
State Live-
haul
Fee/
Rec
fishing
Pro-
cess
Retail
rest. &
Fd. Stor
Other
out-
lets
AL 2 1 92 2 3
AR 4   92 3 1
CA 12 8   74 6
FL     96   4
GA * 28 52 * 4
IL * * 25 * 46
KY 3 41 46   10
LA   * 97 * *
MS     99   1
MO 51 9 * * 34
NC     99   1
TX * 14 47   21
Oth Sts 41 22 2 33 2
Wt.avg. 1/ 1.5 0.8 93.6 2.3 1.8
1/ Includes KS, OK, SC, and TN.
* Included in other states to avoid disclosure.

Catfish: Number sold, weight, total sales and value per pound of all stockers
State Number
sold
Total pounds sold Total
sales
Average value
per pound
2002 2003 2002 2003 2002 2003 2002 2003
  Thousands Thousand dollars Dollars
AR 12,000 12,200 1,500 2,000 1,200 1,500 0.80 0.75
LA * 3,720 * 450 * 311 * 0.69
MS 78,600 40,000 9,680 3,550 9,196 3,337 0.95 0.94
MO * 1,620 * 240 * 278 * 1.16
Oth 1/ 6,494 12,181 1,918 1,214 2,197 779 1.15 0.64
Total 97,094 69,721 13,098 7,454 12,593 6,205 0.96 0.83
1/ Includes AL, CA, FL, GA, KS, KY, NC, OK, TN, SC, and TX.

Catfish: : Number sold, weight, and value of sales of all foodsize
State Number sold Total pounds sold Total sales Average value
per pound
2002 2003 2002 2003 2002 2003 2002 2003
  Thousands Thousand dollars Dollars
AL 75,000 80,000 142,000 158,000 73,840 82,160 0.52 0.52
AR 59,400 59,400 97,000 99,700 53,350 55,832 0.55 0.56
FL 900 1,000 1,300 1,700 637 1,173 0.49 0.69
LA 18,200 19,700 26,600 26,100 15,428 14,094 0.58 0.54
MS 244,000 210,000 392,000 393,000 219,520 224,010 0.56 0.57
MO 350 905 765 1,700 635 1,462 0.83 0.86
Oth 1/ 9,145 10,657 16,148 19,110 16,636 18,341    
Total 406,995 381,662 675,813 699,310 380,046 397,072 0.56 0.57
1/ Includes CA, GA, KS, KY, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX.

Catfish: : Number sold, weight, and value of sales of fingerlings and fry
State Number sold Total pounds sold Total sales Average value per pound
2002 2003 2002 2003 2002 2003 2002 2003
  Thousands Thousand dollars Dollars
AL 18,200 83,700 370 3,400 670 2,482 1.81 0.73
AR 64,000 60,400 900 1,050 1,440 1,680 1.60 1.60
FL 1,750 500 73 24 110 35 1.50 1.45
LA * 4,380 * 83 * 100 0 1.20
MS 417,600 552,000 10,350 12,300 13,559 15,621 1.31 1.27
Oth 1/ 16,482 13,910 535 446 1,560 1,307 2.98 3.07
Total 518,032 714,890 12,228 17,303 17,339 21,225 1.42 1.23
1/ Includes CA, GA, KS, KY, MO, NC, OK, SC, TN, and TX.
* Included in other states to avoid disclosure.


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